Statement from the Revolutionary Communists, Norway (RK), October 8, 2023.
In this moment, fierce fighting is going on between the Palestinian people and the Israeli occupying state. On Saturday, October 7th, an offensive was launched from Gaza on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has promised heavy retaliation and warned the Palestinians to “leave Gaza” — however, this is impossible as all roads in and out of the Gaza Strip are controlled by Israel and Egypt.
The Palestinian offensive is a just counterattack against a 75-year occupation. The Palestinian people have been displaced, killed, ethnically cleansed and forced to live as second-class citizens on their own land. Despite this, the Palestinian resistance has not rested for a moment. The Palestinians are still fighting to regain their land, and they will continue to fight until they have achieved victory.
The Norwegian bourgeois press cries its crocodile tears over the victims on the Israeli side, while condemning the Palestinians as terrorists. Israel and Palestine are portrayed as two equal parties, when the reality is that Israel is one of the world’s strongest military powers, backed by US imperialism, while the Palestinians are an occupied people fighting for their survival as a nation. Over the last fifteen years, over 5000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza alone, while Israeli deaths totaled 308.
The hypocrisy of the Norwegian imperialist public is palpable. The entire press corps and all political parties in parliament support the Ukrainian resistance struggle against Russia — a just struggle, which the imperialists exploit for their purposes — but when the Palestinians fight back against their occupier, this is condemned as provocation and terrorism.
Any anti-imperialist must support the right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupier, including with arms. This is not the same as political support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which stand for reactionary programs. While the current offensive may be led by reactionary forces, this is not the whole picture, as there are also secular and progressive forces in the field. The Palestinian struggle is objectively a just uprising against imperialism and for national liberation.
Solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people!